Violent LivesBook Group Reading Options:

Runner : Carl Deuker

Chance Taylor lives on a sailboat at the marina. The boat is not seaworthy and represents the life Chance and his father share—rocking back and forth and going nowhere. Chance sits in the back of every classroom, making himself invisible. Mr. Taylor drinks, has trouble holding down a job and struggles to pay the bills. So, Chance agrees to be a runner, picking up mysterious parcels on his daily running route and passing them on to the fat man from the marina, knowing that it's probably wrong and likely dangerous, but it pays for the groceries.

Freefall : Mindi Scott

Seth McCoy likes to party. He’s a bass guitar player in a teen rock band, and the book talks about his music, but also how he’s dealing with his best friend's death, his own drinking problem, and on top of all that, too much attention from the wrong girl, and none from the right one. If you like stories about relationships, this might be a good choice for you.

Where Men Win Glory: Jon Krakauer

In 2002, Pat Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11 and felt a moral obligation to join the fight against the Taliban. Two years later he was killed by “friendly fire” on a hillside in Afghanistan. To this day his family believes that his death was not an accident. This is Pat’s story.

S.: Slavenka Drakulic

This story is told in flashback. S. has just given birth to a baby boy whom she refuses to nurse. The other women in the hospital are shocked by this, but they do not know what has happened to S. or how this baby was conceived. S. was a prisoner of war during the Bosnian war. The story recounts the horrors S. and other women lived through at the hands of soldiers while under captivity.

A Long Way Gone: Ishmael Beah This is the true story of

Ishmael Beah. At twelve years of age he was “recruited” into the Sierra Leone national army, taught to kill, and kept that way through addiction to cocaine. The course of his life changes when the UN pulls him out of the army and forces him into rehabilitation.

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: Louise Murphy

This is a retelling of the children’s story by the same time. This time Hansel and Gretel are two Jewish children hiding in the forests of Poland from the German soldiers. They are taken in by Magda, the village witch, who risks her life to hide them. The story alternates between the children’s experiences and their parents’ struggle for survival against the Nazi forces.

The Things They Carried: Tim O’Brien

The author of this story fought in Vietnam. The main character’s name is Tim and he’s a soldier in Vietnam. Sometimes Tim’s experiences mirror O’Brien’s, sometimes they don’t. Throughout the story, O’Brien challenges his reader to question what’s “truth.” If the story he tells about Tim helps the reader understand the experience of soldier in Vietnam, does it matter if it’s not entirely accurate? This book is brilliant, but challenging.

Thirteen Reasons Why : Jay Asher

Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide. Each tape is dedicated to a person who contributed to her decision. He spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

Rikers High : Paul Volponi

Martin Stokes has been imprisoned on Rikers Island for five months, awaiting trial for telling an undercover cop where to buy drugs. He’s become an observer of the prison life, good at keeping his head down and steering clear of gangs, extortion schemes, brutal correction officers, and other hazards. This story is based upon real experiences.

Unwind : Neal Shusterman

In a future world where abortion has been outlawed those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can be forced to have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others. In this story, three teens destined for unwinding go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs--and, perhaps, save their own lives.